


Inkwell Penny Hell

by MidnightMorpher



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Bullying, Elder kettle comes to the rescue though, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Consensual Spanking, Spanking, Will add more soon, not good with tags, well sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-23 04:19:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14927016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightMorpher/pseuds/MidnightMorpher
Summary: After the events surrounding the Devil and the soul contracts ended, the Devil had vanished along with most of the casino workers, leaving King Dice to take the fall for them. He was apprehended, and subsequently sentenced to an unusual punishment: age regression, to the point of having the appearance of a three-year-old while having his adult mental state. One wonders what trouble little Dice could get into, especially with the Devil in the shadows...





	Inkwell Penny Hell

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello, hello! It’s been a while, but I present to you a new fanfic based on a Cuphead comic I found on Tumblr. Now, before you groan about this, let me first say that I have successfully gained permission from the artist, and I don’t think that I can put a link to his comic here, but you can go to http://isadoraarkham.tumblr.com/ to see his tumblr blog.
> 
> Secondly, I know that spanking is a split issue amongst people, so I will be putting this warning on all chapters from now on: This fic contains spanking! If you do not like spanking or disapprove of it, click the back button RIGHT NOW! I am in no way advocating the abuse or whatever of minors, this fic is just a work of fiction, if you somehow didn’t know already.
> 
> Alright, with all that out of the way, I hope that you enjoy this fic! Credit goes to isaadoraarkham for both concept and creation of this little AU (if you can call it that).

Night had fallen upon Inkwell Isle. Nothing dared to disturb the peaceful night air, not even the crickets and frogs, and nearly everyone was hitting the hay in preparation for a new day. Only a select few were still up and about, and two of them happened to be a certain kettle and dice...

 

=0=

 

“Hurry and finish your soup, little one. No more stalling.”

 

Dive frowned at his soup, nudging the spoon in a half-hearted way. He knew very well what was coming after dinner, and he did not like it one bit. It wasn’t fair. All he wanted was one cookie from the cookie jar. Just one! It wasn’t his fault anyway! He blamed his three-year-old body for the sudden sugar cravings, and... It seemed like a good plan at the time!

 

Well, combining his shoddy plan with his less than agile body got him a very disappointed Elder Kettle and an appointment with the brush later. A million excuses had crossed his mind when he was caught standing on that wooden stool, but they were all chased out of his mind the moment he locked eyes with his guardian, and Dice then knew that he was in trouble.

 

No use complaining about it now though, right? He was under the guardianship of Elder Kettle, it wasn’t like he had a say-so in the matter. Maybe he just waited a little longer...

 

“Dice!” 

 

Little Dice flinched at the reprimanding tone, and he turned to see Elder Kettle standing right behind him. Oooh, he was definitely angry. He had his arms akimbo, foot tapping and everything! “Dice, what did I tell you about your dinner?”

 

“... To finish it quickly?” he mumbled.

 

When he saw little Dice’s fearful expression, Elder Kettle’s face softened a little, but his voice still carried a stern tone as he said, “I know that you’re scared, but I think you would prefer me spank you now and get it over with, right? Or would you rather have the spanking when Cuphead and Mugman are having their breakfast here?”

 

His eyes shot open at his words. “No! No no no no no, I want the spanking now!” he pleaded. “Please don’t spank me in front of them. Please!”

 

His cheeks warmed at the very thought; it had happened once a few weeks ago, and he had been subjected to _days_ of unrelenting humiliation by those two washed-out cups! Much to his annoyance, he had noticed that those bratty cups were careful not to do it in front of Elder Kettle. Hmph, if they expected him to go _crawling_ to Elder Kettle on his knees for help, then they had another thing coming. He may have lost many things, but he still at least had his pride!

 

Elder Kettle’s amused chuckling brought him back from memory lane, his chuckling, Dice reluctantly began eating his soup again. Spoonful after spoonful until his spoon scraped the bottom of his bowl, and Dice couldn't help but sneak another nervous peek at Elder Kettle.

 

“Are you done, Dice?” he asked, having noticed the glance turned his way.

 

"Yes...sir," he answered begrudgingly.

 

"Good." Elder Kettle wrapped his arms around little Dice and lifted him out of his seat, setting him on the ground and nudging him towards the bedside table. “Go fetch me the brush. You should know where it is.”

 

He did know. It was always in the second drawer, just for him. Under Elder Kettle’s watchful eye, he trotted obediently to the bedside table and hesitantly took out the heavy, wooden brush. He quickly shuffled back to his side and handed it over, eyes focused on anywhere but Elder Kettle. He felt his heart skip a beat when it was taken from him. ‘This is nothing. It’s just a spanking, I will not cry over a little smacking like a...like a...’

 

Elder Kettle looked down at him with a stern look in his eyes, which made his stomach lurch. “What are you getting spanked for, Dice?”

 

“For, um, trying to take a cookie before dinner...without your p-permission.” His embarrassment only grew with every word out of his mouth.

 

“That’s right. I told you no snacks before dinner, and yet you deliberately disobeyed me,” Elder Kettle scolded. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

 

Dice shook his head.

 

“Very well then, come over here!” Elder Kettle reaches out and grabbed his wrist, Dice nearly stumbling over his feet and he was pulled over to his side. With the brush in one hand, he bent down and began undoing the buttons of his pyjama bottom flap.

 

“Wait, no! Please, not on bare!” he said pleadingly, twisting around as he made a feeble attempt to cover his backside.

 

The brush was rapped sharply on his tender knuckles. “Hands away, little Dice. You know the rules, hands in front at all times.”

 

“But it was just one cookie! I didn’t even eat it!” he protested, eyes watering despite himself.

 

Without a word, he grabbed Dice’s blocking hand and pinned it together with the hand he already had in his grasp. “It’s not the snacking that I’m concerned about. It is because you ignored my instructions like that.” Before Dice could protest, he felt the bite of the brush and the sting blossomed. 

 

“Ow!”

 

Elder Kettle didn’t waste time with punishment. The brush mercilessly spanked his bare bottom, painting his bottom an even shade of bright red as he shouted and jumped and struggled. The sting of a wooden brush was horrible enough for an adult, even worse for a young toon like Dice. He tried to pull away, but Elder Kettle had made sure that he had a firm grasp on Dice before starting the punishment. He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

 

Dice had promised himself that he wouldn’t cry over such a minor punishment. That promise lasted about a minute before tears began flowing freely, and he blubbered helplessly.

 

“Ow ow ow! I’m so-orry, I’m s-sooorry!” he sobbed, hands clenching into tiny fists. The fire in his bottom was burning fiercely, in the only way a three-year-old would feel. 

 

“I know,” was his simple reply as he continued spanking him.

 

The smacking carried on without pause, without rest, the cracks of the brush mingling with Dice’s increasingly loud crying, and only when he felt Dice go limp in his grip, exhausted and only able to bawl his eyes out, did he stop and set the brush aside. He quickly fixed up the bottom flap over his cherry red bottom and gently scooped Dice up in his arms, shushing and patting the crying child’s back. Dice curled up in his arms and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, flushed face pressed against his chest. “Sshhh... It’s alright, your punishment’s over...”

 

“I-I’m s-s-s-sorry,” Dice sobbed. “I-I won’t do i-it again, I p-promise.”

 

“Good boy.” After a few minutes of Elder Kettle cuddling Dice, his crying eventually tapered off into sniffles and an odd hiccup. Little Dice mustered up the will to pull away from him, and Elder Kettle took the chance to wipe away the tears on his face. “... Please be on your best behaviour from now on. Can you promise me that, Dice?”

 

“I... I will try,” he murmured.

 

“ _Yes, you will try, won’t you?_ ”

 

No... that voice!

 

Dice choked back a whimper as he heard the voice of the Devil, his former employer, whisper onto his ear, full of hatred and scorn. At that moment, Elder Kettle and everything else vanished from his perception, leaving only him and the Devil.

 

“ _But you will_ fail _._ ”

 

He felt ice-cold fingers brush against his head for the briefest moment, and just as quickly as it came, the ominous presence was gone. Dice let out a rattled breath, his heart racing a million miles.

 

“Little one, what’s wrong?”

 

Elder Kettle’s voice broke through the haze of fear, and Dice realised that he was shivering and clinging onto him. His already flushed face darkened even more. He pushed away from him, and yelped as the ache flared in his poor bottom.

 

Should he say...?

 

‘No!’ What was he supposed to say? It wasn’t like Elder Kettle was going to believe him, and... honestly, he didn’t want to believe it himself.

 

“Dice?” he prompted. “What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

 

“I... ‘M fine.” Thankfully, anything else he wanted to say was cut off by a squeaky yawn, and Dice rubbed his eyes as his tiny body sagged wearily against his guardian. “Nothing’s...wrong...”

 

He hummed. “It  _is_ past your bedtime I suppose, I can imagine how tuckered out you must be. We both have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, so let’s get you to bed now, shall we?”

 

Dice wasn’t in too much of a position to argue anyway. With one hand rubbing circles into his back, Elder Kettle carried little Dice back to his room. He tucked the dozing child into his cot, and remained by his side until his breathing became deep and even. Only then did he allow himself to frown a little.

 

That eerie feeling just now... Dice’s answer didn’t fool him. It was barely noticeable, but he had felt a slight chill on his handle. Maybe it was his old age, but having two boys who happily got their souls nearly taken by the Devil made him more perceptible to potential dangers, and the former King Dice’s history with him didn’t soothe his fears.

 

Perhaps he should read more on the subject.

 

Keeping his footsteps light, Elder Kettle returned to his room and took out a tightly-bound book from his bookshelf. “Let’s see...”

 

=0=

 

“Hold my hand and stay close to him, little one.”

 

“Yes, Elder Kettle, sir,” Dice said, a little resentment in his voice. 

 

On one hand, he was secretly glad that he was brought along on this shopping trip. It was miles better than having those boys “babysit” him again; if he had to put up with another one of their pranks...

 

But on the other hand, this trip was just as uncomfortable as being with them, maybe even more so. His former clients - the ones who had once held a contract with the Devil - seemed to be everywhere, glaring daggers into his head, and all he could do was try not to make eye contact. He already learned a long time ago that they didn’t care about his regressed state. All they wanted was punishment.

 

Thankfully, Elder Kettle didn’t seem too keen on letting him out of his sight for a single second. In fact, he seemed to be distracted by something, only sparing Dice an occasional glance. This was a far cry from the usual hawk-eye he kept on him, especially after last night’s incident...

 

‘No! Don’t think about that!’ He still felt humiliation flooding his heart every time he remembered his losing control of his emotions like that. After he had tried so hard not to, no less! If anyone else found out...

 

That horrible thought occupied his otherwise active kid mind during the next three stops in the market. Elder Kettle kept holding his hand all this while, but it was when they reached the potion ingredients stall did he let go of Dice and to haggle with the shopkeeper.

 

Any normal child would have taken the chance to wander off, but Dice was oddly content with staying by his side. He wasn’t stupid. He was aware that many toons still held a grudge against him, he wasn’t going to-

 

Huh? ‘What was that?’

 

He turned around, but toons were mulling around like normal. Funny, he could have sworn that he saw something... He glanced at Elder Kettle, who was still absorbed in his conversation, and back at the crowd. Wandering away from his guardian _would_ merit another scolding... but another part of him was itching to see what was going on in the crowd.

 

‘Just a little peek, then I’ll come back in a jiffy.’ After another glance to make sure that Elder Kettle wasn’t paying attention, Dive slipped into the crowd and made his way towards a game booth.

 

The game booth itself was as normal as normal could be. It seemed like the shopkeeper was away at the moment, and it seemed to be a common knock-the-bottles game. Nothing was wrong.

 

So why did he feel so uneasy?

 

Just then, when he lost his nerve and was about to rush back to Elder Kettle, a new and terribly familiar voice called out. “HEY!”

 

Dice whirled around in alarm. From the thick throng of the crowd, three familiar toons stepped towards him with hostility rolling off in waves. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the fallen King Dice!” Goopy sneered. “What do you think you’re doing here? This place isn’t for criminal scum like you!”

 

He gritted his teeth. ‘Don’t pay any mind to them. Don’t pay them any mind.’

 

He had to get back to Elder Kettle, or he’ll do something he’ll regret. He was trembling, but from fear or anger, he did not know.

 

“What’s that look for, huh? You looking for a fight?” Dice scrambled backwards hastily as Goopy advanced towards him. This was turning to a bad direction really, really fast. He shouldn’t rise to this, he just recovered from yesterday’s punishment, just go back to Elder Kettle-

 

Dice became vaguely aware of the crowd that was gathering around the commotion. He recognised some of them as former patrons of the casino, and they were watching the scene with hungry red. Goopy seemed to realise this too. “Not such a big man now, are you? Serves you right for trying to take our souls, _little_ Dice!” 

 

“Run back to your mummy, why don’t you? Oh wait, that’s right, you don’t _have_ one!”

 

“Go on, scram, you little brat!”

 

“Ha ha!”

 

Everyone’s taunting and condescending laughter rang loudly in his ears. The fear his child side felt was quickly overpowered by the indignity of his adult conscience. How dare they mock him, _King Dice_! He remembered their fear at the casino as clear as day, and now they dare to make fun of his situation just because he turned tiny. They think that they can make a mockery of him and get away with it? Well, they thought wrong!

 

A combination of the child’s impulsiveness and his own anger propelled him towards Goopy, tiny fists raised in the air as he charged recklessly at the stunned toon. “I’ll show you who’s the fucking King, you-!”

 

“DICE!”

 

A sharp tug followed the thunderous bellow, and Dice yelped shrilly as he dangled by his suspenders in mid-air. “What is the meaning of this, Dice?”

 

Oh, so _now_ Elder Kettle notices. 

 

His face grew warm when the crowd’s sniggering reaches his ears. No doubt they found this amusing: their most hated toon dangling from Elder Kettle’s walking cane, on the verge of receiving a big lecture from the resident potion master. And, Dice just realised with a sinking heart, this would definitely surpass the “transgression” of eating snacks before dinner.

 

“Sneaking away when you know you’re not supposed to, and picking fights with others! I expected better from you,” Elder Kettle scolded. “Especially since what happened yesterday.”

 

Dice’s face was glowing bright red with both mortification and anger, mouth hanging open. “What?! Didn’t you hear what they said to me?!” he demanded, legs kicking in the air.

 

Then, Elder Kettle said something that shocked even _him_.

 

“Apologise, Dice!”

 

Dice’s mouth dropped even further. Him...apologise to _them_? He daren’t say this out loud, but had he lost his mind? He didn’t do anything wrong, he didn’t even start this whole thing! No, this time, he was putting his (tiny) foot down. 

 

“No.”

 

Elder Kettle’s eyes narrowed. “What was that?”

 

Somewhere in the murky recesses of his adult conscience, Dice knew that he was stepping into dangerous territory, but the “child” side of him was too blinded by the one-sidedness of the situation, the maddening grins on their faces, and he blurted out before he could stop himself, “No, I’m not gonna say sorry!”

 

“... Hmph. Very well then.” Elder Kettle unceremoniously slid hum off his walking cane, and Dice watched in silent confusion as he knelt down on one knee to form a stop of sorts with the other. He was abruptly put across his knee, and it hit him just what was about to happen. “Wait, no! Not here! Not in front of them!”

 

Elder Kettle didn’t bother with responding. Stinging swats immediately rained down on his bottom. He thanked his lucky stars that his bottom wasn’t bared to the laughing crowd, but this also only made him put more strength behind each smack.

 

“Ow! Ow! Ouch!” The stinging pain was building up quickly, and that, together with the crowd’s derisive laughter, made tears well up in his eyes, and he let out a small sob. Why did he do that? He already knew that it was such a stupid idea, he was already spanked last night, why did he even try to engage with them in the first place? 

 

The humiliation was too much, but Elder Kettle was not letting up one bit until Dice burst into noisy tears and cried out, “I want to apologise! I want to apologise!”

 

He had blurted that out of desperation, but much to his surprise, he stopped the spanking and lifted him onto his feet. His hand wasted no time in flying back to furiously rub at the sting, while wiping away his tears with the other. 

 

Elder Kettle grabbed his shoulder and pushed him towards his attackers, whose smug grins that Dice wanted nothing more than to slap away. “Now apologise the way I taught you at home.”

 

“I...” His voice hitched a bit. “P-please forgive me for behaving b-badly... I’m sorry for all the tr-trouble I have caused.”

 

“... Huh? That’s it? After all the hell you put us through with those soul contracts?!”

 

“Huh?” Goopy, Psycarrot and Moe were all glaring at him still, and Dice started to back up closer to Elder Kettle’s side.

 

“Yeah, we want _our_ turn with him!” 

 

“I’ll make it so he won’t sit for a week! Heh heh!”

 

Goopy’s hand suddenly shot out for him, but he never even got close before Elder Kettle whipped his cane at them, a protective arm wrapped around his shoulders. All present jumped at the sharp crack.

 

“I believe that the boy has made his apology, and it’s  very rude not to acknowledge it.” There was a look in his eyes that made even Dice’s heart race faster, and it wasn’t even directed at _him_. “Whether you feel it in your heart to forgive him is beside the point. But if you are looking for revenge instead of correction, then you can _forget_ about it.”

 

“Heh heh, we were just k-kidding around, Elder Kettle,” Goopy reassured, his hasty steps backwards betraying his calm demeanour.

 

“Yeah,” Psycarrot agreed with a nervous smile. “Of course we don’t hold any ill will towards little Dice.”

 

“That’s good to hear,” he said evenly as he took Dice’s hand. Dice was still staring at the walking cane in mute shock, so much that he nearly fell on his butt when Elder Kettle pulled him away. “Come along, little one, we should head back home. It’s almost your nap time.”

 

“Y-yes sir, Elder Kettle.” Dice knew better than to argue back now; Elder Kettle’s Yee still held a glimmer of anger as they walked away from the silent crowd and out of the market. No doubt he was still angry at him for his antics in the market... Maybe staying close to him wasn’t a bad idea after all.

 

“Dice?” Elder Kettle said once they were a distance away from the market.

 

“Yes sir?”

 

“Make sure to tell me when anyone else bothers you like that, okay?” Dice gave him a look of amazement, and Elder Kettle finally cracked a small smile at that. “You are under my care now. None of those hooligans are going to do what they want with you when I am around.”

 

“R-really?”

 

“Of course. But...please try not to provoke them like that ever again. I might not be able to help you in time like today, so... Please promise me that you’d be careful from now on.”

 

“... Yes, Elder Kettle sir.” A small blossom of warmth blooming in his heart, Dice sidled up to his guardian’s side, and remained that way, as they continued the rest of their journey home.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Chapter done! Honestly, I’m not too happy with this one, but I’ve done as much as I could to fix it. Again, if you are not offended by spanking, you should go check out isadoraarkham’s Tumblr blog!


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